In a wireless communications network, when a user equipment is located in network coverage, the user equipment may directly establish a connection to and communicate with a network side. However, when the user equipment is located outside the network coverage, the user equipment cannot directly establish a connection to the network side. The user equipment located outside the network coverage may be referred to as a remote user equipment. In the prior art, the remote user equipment may establish a connection to the network side by using a relay user equipment located in the network coverage.
Specifically, the remote user equipment may transmit data to the network side by using the relay user equipment in a unicast transmission manner or a multicast transmission manner. In a unicast transmission manner, a relay user equipment may provide services for multiple remote user equipments. When content of data sent by the multiple remote user equipments is the same, same data is repeatedly transmitted multiple times between the relay user equipment and a network side, thereby causing resource waste. In a multicast transmission manner, multiple relay user equipments provide relay services. However, if there are few relay user equipments, that is, there are few user equipments that are directly connected to a base station, in this case, if the base station still transmits data in a multicast mode, only the few relay user equipments directly receive data from a network in actuality, and a remote user equipment still needs to obtain data by using a relay user equipment. When the base station transmits data in a multicast mode, signal strength needs to ensure that farthest user equipment in coverage can receive data. Therefore, an effect of broadcast transmission in which the base station transmits data by using relatively large power is actually similar to that of unicast transmission, thereby increasing power consumption of the base station, and causing resource waste.